The Library and Information Professional’s Guide to the Internet (3rd ed.)

Citation

Smith, A. (2000), "The Library and Information Professional’s Guide to the Internet (3rd ed.)", The Electronic Library, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 448-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2000.18.6.448.21

The Library and Information Professional’s Guide to the Internet was first published in 1996, and aims to be a guide to the Internet specifically tailored for librarians and other information professionals. It is divided into three parts: Part 1 describes the fundamentals of the Internet with a historical summary of the development of the information superhighway, followed by a brief guide to getting Internet access through an Internet service provider. Part 2 describes the resources available on the Internet, explaining how to contact people by e‐mail and UseNet, and how to access information resources. Part 3 is a “tips” section, offering more advanced advice on using the Internet for communication and for accessing resources. Some newer resources have not been included: the search engine summary does not mention Google (although it is mentioned as an experimental service in the resource guide), nor Greg Notess’s excellent Search Engine Showdown site (http://www.notess.com/search/).

There are some areas that could receive more emphasis: search strategies are dealt with in a couple of pages, and evaluation of Internet information is only briefly mentioned. The training of users is a topic that could usefully be added.

There is a brief index, and an associated Web site at http://www.la‐hq.org.uk/directory/publications.html, although this requires registration (it took two weeks for the reviewer to receive a response to a request for registration). The Web site provides copies of the handouts in HTML and RTF to allow updating of outdated URLs and new sites; and includes pages of updates and links to resources. The handouts at the end of each workshop are designed to be copied, although it might have been useful to have had a clear statement of the extent to which the copyright owners allow copying of the materials.

While The Library and Information Professional’s Guide to the Internet has much useful information, its audience is not clear. Perhaps the problem is that it is difficult to use a framework developed in 1996 in the new millennium. While details in this edition have been updated (although reference is made to Windows not accepting more than three characters in file extensions!), the overall structure and approach have not been revised. Most LIS professionals today will already be familiar with the basics of the Internet, and will not require the introductory approach of much of the material. On the other hand, there is much historical detail (e.g. the role of minor networks such as FidoNet) that is probably not appropriate to a staff training manual. An LIS professional would probably like more details on management issues. For example, Chapter 2 provides a good explanation of the process of connecting an individual computer to the Internet via an ISP, but does not give useful information on connecting an organisation’s network – which is likely to be the concern of an LIS professional today.

For all that, guides to the Internet that reflect an LIS perspective are not common, and most LIS professionals will benefit from perusing this updated edition of The Library and Information Professional’s Guide to the Internet.